CORMAN, SIRITZKY TEAM FOR ‘CRISTO’

Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons has teamed up with Alain Siritzky Prods. to co-produce the $5 million pic “The Count of Monte Cristo,” based on Alexander Dumas’ novel.

Pic follows the travails of Edmond Dantes, a dashing young sailor falsely accused of treason. He subsequently is imprisoned for years in a secret dungeon, then wages an escape which allows him to exact revenge on his accusers.

While casting has not been set, the post-Napoleonic era adventure is scheduled to begin lensing this summer with exteriors to be shot entirely on location in France and interiors shot in Corman’s New Concorde studio facility in Gaul, Ireland.